Turnovers hurt
- Updated: September 30, 2017
White Plains has four turnovers in crucial situations, drops a close game to Westbrook Christian that extends losing streak
The ball comes loose just as the White Plains running back takes the exchange from his quarterback. (Photos by B.J. Franklin/GungHo Photos)
By East Alabama Sports Today
For a while it looked as if White Plains might be on the verge of snapping its long losing streak, but an old nemesis came up to bite the Wildcats in the end.
Four turnovers struck at the most inopportune times Friday night and the Wildcats fell to Westbrook Christian 16-14, extending their losing streak to five games this season and 20 overall.
“The big thing that continues for us is we turned the football over,” White Plains coach Chris White said. “You can’t do that and win ballgames.”
The Wildcats (0-5) had two turnovers in each half. The first came shortly after Pat Harris scored on a Ryan Bannister pass and they missed the extra point to trail 7-6. They pinned Westbrook inside the 10 with the ensuing kickoff and held it, but on the punt they roughed the kicker.
That gave the Warriors (2-3) an automatic first down, which they used to extend the drive and score to make it 13-6 at the half.
White Plains held the Warriors to a field goal on the opening drive of the second half, then got a touchdown run and two-point conversion from Charlie Huey to make it 16-14.
“We made some good adjustments defensively and played a lot better,” White said.
The Wildcats did get an interception, but two plays later turned it over again. The next time they got the ball they faked a punt on fourth-and-12 and got 11 of the yards they needed. The defense went back out and held, but the offense was stymied by an interception after it got the ball back.
“You can’t do things like that,” White said. “You look at the stats, they snapped the ball 64 times to our 39. We’ve got to get more offensive productivity — 39 (plays) and four turnovers is not good; that really hurt. Time of possession: They held the ball for 33 minutes, we had it 14. We outrushed them and had the ball for 14 minutes. It boils down to those turnovers.”
White Plains’ Garison Abbott (4) and Westbrook’s Patrick Wells engage in a mid-air ballet breaking up a pass Friday night. To see more B.J. Franklin photos from this game, visit www.bjfranklin.smugmug.com
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